OREANDA-NEWS. Carnival Cruise Line has announced that its local team will provide support to Australian travel agents booking the cruise line’s international itineraries from January 1, 2016.

The move means travel agents will now have a central sales team, phone number and website for all Carnival Cruise Line local and international cruise queries and bookings.

Carnival Cruise Line Vice President Australia Jennifer Vandekreeke said her team was looking forward to providing a complete one-stop service for the local travel agent community, describing the move as a natural progression for the cruise line.

“Since we launched Carnival Spirit in the Australian market in 2012, we’ve been focussed on the operation and promotion of our local ships,” Ms Vandekreeke said.

“Now that Carnival has successfully established a strong local team, it makes sense for us to expand our support for sales to our internationally based ships.

“It’s an exciting time for us, particularly given Carnival Vista’s launch in Europe next May, so we can’t wait to start working with agents on our international cruise offering.”

Ms Vandekreeke said the team had been working with Carnival Cruise Line’s current international GSA in Australia, Travel the World, to transition the business, adding that Travel the World had been an outstanding partner of the brand over the past decade.

“The Travel the World team have been excellent ambassadors for Carnival Cruise Line’s product.  We can’t thank them enough for the work they have done on our behalf and their true professionalism in helping us coordinate this transition,” she said.

Ms Vandekreeke said existing arrangements would continue until January 1, 2016.